That is one of the good things about this site. The Hammond blog is very “clean”, so this is a nice alternative with more of an edge. I’ve commented about profanity on this site before. There are some people just begging to be made fun of, and you guys do that.

Next Saturday, if Kovalchuk is on the ice, I am going to “booo” at the top of my lungs. Will make the jeers for Mike Blake seem dim.

FYI for a while I really thought the Kings “needed” Kovalchuk to be a contender. I was deeply disappointed when it fell through, and yes, kind of bitter. Like any dedicated fan, I want to see my team win. In retrospect, this guy not signing may be one of the best things to happen to the Kings organization in recent memory. Nobody gets everyone they yearn for.

Kudos to all the fans who had the foresight to see through all the bullshit, along with DL. The debate as to who was right is 20/20 now, but the good thing is that Kingsfans were taught a lesson in aquiring a player at all costs. Sometimes the price is too high.

On that same thought. I don’t see alot of posters saying get rid of Quick and hand the franchise over to Bernier, lately. Hopefully those fans have learned that these things take time, if they happen at all.

The Kings definitely dodged a bullet in not getting Kovalchuk. The Devils are in for a long ugly ride with this guy, and because of that huge millstone of a contract, they can’t move him. Be careful what you wish for.

I was also intrigued by the rest of the interview where they talked about hitting and being hit, and how they don’t teach that anymore. The entertainment value in this game is it’s violence, and it revolves around the hitting. If you take that out of the game, you have no game left. Hockey programs need to get back to teaching kids how to give and take a hit, and then we can preserve the game instead of trying to kill it off by taking all the action out of it.

great interview…seems as if the Kolvachuck P.R. was feeding us some b.s. about him being a good
“team player”. Our non-loss was for the best.
Sad that FRO was collateral (sp?) damage.
where is spellcheck on this damn Droid????

Don’t really think Fro was collateral damage. I felt his time in LA was up, as I said earlier, his meter ran out.

No doubt he is a highly skilled player but (IMO) is soft, folds in big games and disappears in hard hitting games.

I’ll miss him. Once, he was the closest thing this Club had as a Star. But he was like a frigid bride. Pretty to watch but closes down when it counts. I’m sure other players can step up in his place to score against the weaker teams.

From top to bottom the Kings have evolved into a hard hitting Club. Frolov doesn’t fit this mold. I wish him luck in NYC.

There is no ‘off-topic’ unless it has nothing to do with hockey or is meaningless personal attacks. Talk about Frolov here, talk about the Capitals or Islanders in the post game thread. Talk about Bettman in the Muzzin thread. This site is not about rules, only about the love of puck.

Kovalchuk deciding to sign with the Devils still doesn’t make any sense to me. Why commit to a team that is already loaded with LWers, old and doesn’t have much upside? I don’t know if we will ever know how much was done behind the scenes to keep the Russian on the East coast (i.e. mafia).

I wonder what Lou sold him on the NJ Devils team. They already had 2 top LWs and no #1 Center or #1 defenseman. You can understand why Kovalchuk would be frustrated by being switched to RW and stuck playing with a rookie center. And being 2-6-1 doesn’t help anyone.

I will admit that I’m loving the Devils’ current struggles, but it is still early and they have plenty of time to turn it around. I hope that they don’t and Kovalchuk regrets signing a 15 year deal with a team on the decline.

I still believe that he would not have had any issues fitting with the Kings. The Kings have a much closer group in the locker room and are already set at goaltending, defense and center. The Kings had an open spot for Kovalchuk as the #1 LW and he would have had plenty of ice time and wouldn’t have been switched to the RW.

Your statement about not having issues fitting in with the Kings (at least insofar as a positional player) is indeed accurate. Problem is, Kovalchuk was driven only by dollars and signed for the most he could get despite the issues you note above. That asshole agent of his helped orchestrate this mess as well.

If he is miserable now, nobody cares. Serves him right, that greedy prick.

Perhaps I am projecting (I do want the team to do well), but this year’s group looks very tight together. For example, when Richardson scored the hat trick, Kopitar looked genuinely happy for his teamate during the post scoring celebration. Furthermore, I doubt Kopitar cared that his teamate scored and he didn’t.

Hockey is the consummate team sport. One guy can’t win games and certainly not a Cup. Once again, kudos to DL for having the wisdom to see through the bullshit early in the game. I was one of those that said “Do it Dean”. I was wrong.

The team is doing well right now, and winning some gritty games. I am enjoying this. Now I have to get back to work so I can get home on time to see the game tonight.

Perhaps one large aspect of the negotiations was a combination of gamesmanship and control. The Kings offer to IK required compromise. More then money for IK the Kings offer also carried a tactic acknowledgment of just who was the boss and in control.

By groveling and begging the Devils essentially handed Kovalchuk the power to make demands and control the team. In essence they sent him a message that he would be player, coach and GM.

Kovalchuck in LA might have compared with Dionne. A great player leading his supporting cast nowhere. The difference? Dionne is a quality personality and one of the four or five best scorers to ever lace a set of skates.

That’s an excellent point, and very well stated. The Devils created the impression that they needed Kovalchuk, and would bend to suit him when necessary, where Dean offered him a fair salary and the chance to be part of a team that is going to the top. Since the Kings offer wasn’t centered around him, he couldn’t be bothered to take it. He could have had the Cup here, he will spend 15 years chasing it in Newark, and go down as one of the most talented players never to win it. Serves the greedy bastard right.